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> The printing press, radio and TV always had ads

This is not true. Pervasive advertising is far from a natural state of media and is actually an extremely recent innovation.

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TV programming is the USA was pretty much created when advertisers realized the potential of the medium yet understood that no one would watch ads non-stop, which is why the had talk shows, tv series, game shows, etc made. The first TV ad - for Bulova watches - dates back to 1941, just two years after the first TV sets were sold to the public at the 1939 World's Fair.

The reason soap operas are called that is because they sold soap.

Yes - it only really caught on when the Egyptians started putting it on papyrus

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